SAT Prep - Writing

Once you understand each part of speech, you can use these tools to recognize the common errors that appear on the SAT Writing Section.  There are 15 common errors to focus on when approaching the SAT Writing section questions:

1. Adjective/Adverb Error
   1. An adjective is used when an adverb should be used, or vice versa; or the superlative form is used when the comparative form should be used or vice versa
      1. "He walked slow down the hall." (Walked, a verb, is being described so the adverb "slowly" should be used instead of the adjective "slow")
      2. "He was a badly teacher." (Teacher, a noun, is being described so the adjective "bad" should be used instead of the adverb badly)
2. Diction Errors
   1. The wrong word is used
      1. Ex: "He ate peaches than he ate cream." (No two things are being compared, a shift in time is being signified- so "then" should be used instead of "than.")
3. Double Negatives
   1. A double negative is used
      1. "He could not hardly believe his good luck." ("Could not" is negative, and "hardly" is also negative as well)
4. Idiom Errors
   1. Idioms are certain expressions that are accepted as standard in the English language.  If the expression is wrong, that is an error)
      1. Ex: "He was capable to understand." (Capable of is the accepted expression, so capable "to" is wrong)
5. Modifier Errors
   1. A modifier must be next to the thing it is modifying (describing).  If the modifier is not next to the thing it is describing, or if the thing it is describing is never mentioned in the sentence at all, that is an error)
      1. Ex: "After sunning himself for hours, the couch where the cat sat was covered in fur."  (The phrase "After sunning himself for hours" is describing the cat, so it needs to be next to the cat.  The way this sentence is written, it sounds as though it is describing the couch)
6. Parallel Structure Errors
   1. Related parts of a sentence must be in the same form.
      1. Ex: "I like skiing, snorkeling, and to fish." (This sentence is wrong because skiing, snorkeling and fishing are related parts of a list and must be in the same form.)
7. Passive Voice
   1. The subject of the sentence must come before the object of the sentence
      1. Ex: "The television was what I was watching." (This is an error because I, the subject of the sentence, comes after the television, the object of the sentence.)
8. Pronoun Errors
   1. The pronoun must agree with the noun that it is replacing.  If the noun is singular, the pronoun must be singular.  If the noun is plural, the pronoun must be plural.  The pronoun must match in type as well.  Ambiguous pronouns should not used (each pronoun must replace a noun)
      1. Ex: "Kelly and Sue like peaches, and she went to get some." (We don't know who "she" refers to.  If it is referring to both girls, then it is a singular/plural problem. )
9. Run on Sentences
   1. A sentence should contain a subject, an object and a verb.  Compound sentences (sentences with multiple subject, object and verbs) must use the proper transition, otherwise a run on sentence occurs. 
      1. Ex: "I like to fish, Joe likes to swim."  (This is an error because "I like to fish" is an independent clause, and "Joe likes to swim" is an independent clause, so these clauses need to be joined by a transition word ("I like to swim, but Joe likes to swim.") or with a semicolon ("I like to fish; Joe likes to swim.")
10. Sentence Fragments
    1. If a sentence does not have a subject, verb and object, then it is not a complete thought and is a sentence fragment.
       1. Ex: "Since I like cookies." (This sentence is not complete, because "since" is a conjunction which signifies that there must be an additional subject, object and verb)
11. Subject/Object Errors
    1. If the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, the subject form of the pronoun must be used.  If the pronoun is the object of the sentence, the object form must be used
       1. Ex: "The teacher yelled at he and Mike."  (This is an error, because something is happening to "HIM" so the object form (him) must be used instead of the subject form (HE))
12. Subject/Verb Agreement Errors
    1. A subject and verb must agree.  If a singular subject is doing the action, the verb must be singular.  If a plural subject is doing the action, the verb must be plural
       1. "Joe like pizza."  (This is an error, because Joe is singular so the singular "likes" should be used instead of the plural "like.")
13. Transition Errors
    1. The proper transition must be used to join two independent clauses to form a complete sentence.
       1. "I like pizza and Sue doesn't." (This is an error because we are drawing a distinction between two things- "but" should be used instead of "and") 
14. Verb Tense Errors com
    1. A sentence can not shift verb tenses without a reason (a word that signifies a transition in time)
       1. Ex: "I went to the store and I get pizza." (This is an error because went is past tense but get is present tense and there is nothing to signify a shift in time.)
15. Wordiness Errors
    1. Although being wordy is not necessarily wrong, wordiness errors do appear in the Improving Sentences questions, because it is an improvement to eliminate redundancies and make a sentence less wordy
       1. Being that he was an author, Joe wrote a lot.  (This is wordy, it would be an improvement to say 'Because he was an author, Joe wrote a lot." 

We will go into more detail about each of these type of errors, but if you memorize these 15 major error types, you will be able to quickly and easily identify the types of errors that appear over and over again on the SAT Writing Section. 

Passive Voice, Wordiness Errors, and Modifier errors are most frequently found in Improving Sentences questions.

Verb tense errors, pronoun errors, parallel structure errors and idiom errors are most frequently found in Identifying Sentence Error questions.